


A Dream

by chainsawdog



Category: Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb
Genre: First Person, Gen, Not Star Wars Surprisingly, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 03:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6838054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chainsawdog/pseuds/chainsawdog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fitz tells the Fool of a dream he had. There were dragons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dream

“I had a dream, Fool,” I say.  
  
The Fool looks up at me from his carving, and the corner of his lip lifts in a half-smile. We are sitting in my cabin. It is night outside, and there is a fire in the fireplace. Nighteyes is warming himself by it. I am seated on my chair. I had been trying to write, but had given up. The Fool is next to me, sitting on the floor, carving a doll.  
  
“Are you going to tell me your dream, Beloved?” the Fool asks. My pause lasted too long for his patience.  
  
I smile at the name.  
  
“Well?”  
  
“All right,” I say. “If you promise not to interrupt.”  
  
The Fool’s smile turns to a grin, and I know what he’s going to say before he says it. “Don’t ask me to make a promise I can’t keep.”  
  
I sigh, rolling my eyes in mock irritation. “You were in my dream,” I say.  
  
Now his expression turns coy, and I can’t keep the smile from my face. He’s making fun of me, of course, but I don’t mind. Not here in my home, with my Fool and my wolf.  
  
“Not like that, Fool,” I say, and smile fondly as his face falls. His eyes still shine with mischief, though, and I know I haven’t hurt him.  
  
“We were in a city,” I begin, and he turns his attention to my story. “It was made of memory stone, like the dragons. You were taller, Fool. Darker, too, although you were still golden.”  
  
“Were there dragons?”  
  
I shake my head, “Let me tell the story, Fool,” I say. “Then you’ll find out.”  
  
The Fool groans, and leans his head against my leg. I look down at him, my heart twisting with love. By the fire, Nighteyes’ tail thumps once. His paws are twitching, and his lips raised in a snarl. I know he’s hunting in his dreams.  
  
“Fine,” says the Fool. “I’ll try to be patient.”  
  
I smile. “Okay,” I reply. “This city was huge. Bigger than any city I’ve ever been to before. The buildings towered higher than those in the ruins I found in the Mountain Kingdom. The streets were wide enough to allow passage for at least four carriages side-by-side.”  
  
“Or a dragon,” the Fool mumbles. I put my hand on his head, and he sighs. “I know.”  
  
“There were other people in this city, but all that mattered was you. I couldn’t stop looking at you, Fool. You had scales, the colour of liquid gold, on your brow, along your nose, and around your eyes. It was beautiful.” I pause, thinking whether or not I should say the words that come next. I say them anyway, despite my fears. “You were beautiful.”  
  
“What about you?”  
  
I laugh. “Less beautiful,” I say.  
  
“I don’t believe that,” he says, looking up at me again. My heart stutters in my chest, and I move my hand from his head to his shoulder. He places his hand on mine, and rests his head once more against my thigh. “Tell me what you looked like, in your dream.”  
  
I take a breath. “My hair was darker,” I say. “And I had blue scales. They weren’t as nice as yours, but I still looked… better. My nose was still broken, and I still had my scars. The backs of my hands were scaled, though, and I had claws rather than fingernails.”  
  
“Did I?”  
  
I shake my head. “No,” I say. “But your fingers were longer, and scaled. I remember that you were wearing a soft purple robe, and your shoulders were bare. You had scales all up your arms, and I swear you had spikes growing down your spine. I think I was younger than you, too. I didn’t have as many ornaments as you.”  
  
“You are younger than me, Fitz,” the Fool says.  
  
“You’ve told me that,” I reply.  
  
“Are we getting to the dragons?”  
  
I laugh. “Yes,” I say. “Well, in my dream, you and I were walking down the street together. Arm in arm. Then everyone, including us, stopped and looked to the sky. And Fool, the sky was filled with dragons.”  
  
I hear the Fool sigh.  
  
“They were of all colours,” I continue. “Red and green, blue and purple, gold, silver, copper – luminous and bright and everything you would hope they would be.”  
  
“Ah,” he says. “Dragons. Finally.”  
  
I roll my eyes.  
  
“They landed in the streets. Our dragons alighted near us, and demanded that we come see to them immediately. They were… bonded.”  
  
“Oh?” The Fool sounds interested, but doesn’t look up at me. Perhaps he knows that I won’t be able to keep speaking we lock eyes.  
  
“Bond-mates,” I clarify the statement. “Dragons don’t marry.”  
  
“But they had… mated,” the Fool says, his voice indifferent.  
  
“Yes,” I say. “They’d had a clutch. That was where they had been. So we took them to the baths together and scrubbed their scales. My dragon, she was bigger than yours, with sapphire scales that glistened in the sunlight like the ocean on a clear day. Yours, he was golden, small, and lithe. You had told me your dragon was partial to tricks and tumbling when he flew. I had told you mine was the most dangerous beast in the land, able to win any fight.” I smile. “My dragon was beautiful, covered in scars, with fierce opal eyes like whirlpools. She had the most beautiful voice. She would sing as I scrubbed her scales, and tease your golden, telling him that I was a far better keeper than you.”  
  
“Well, that wouldn’t be true,” says the Fool.  
  
I run my fingers through his hair. “Really?” I say. “Who has more experience in caring for beasts?”  
  
“Dragons aren’t just beasts, Fitz,” he begins, but I interrupt him.  
  
“Neither are wolves. Or bears. Or cats – if you ever got the chance to talk to a cat you’d know exactly what I mean.”  
  
“Fine,” says the Fool. “Continue. So we washed these dragons?”  
  
I nod. “Yes,” I say, remembering that he can’t see me. “It took forever. Somehow it felt like the time didn’t matter. Not together, not with our dragons. We were exactly where we were supposed to be.”  
  
Nighteyes has woken, and rolls over to look at me. _Aren’t we there already?_ he asks.  
  
“Aren’t we?” the Fool echoes the question.  
  
“It all felt so peaceful, in the dream,” I explain. “Here… it’s rough. Everything feels so… tiring. There, we were… everything fell into place, you know?”  
  
_Was I there? ___  
  
I look to my wolf, and shake my head, saying, “That was the only thing wrong with the dream. That’s how I knew I was dreaming.”  
  
Nighteyes smiles his wolf smile. _I knew you couldn’t live without me, little brother._


End file.
